Grading Box Art: Metal Gear Solid 4

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots may be coming out in June, but Konami released photos of the box art so you know what it looks like when it hits the shelves. Does it succeed? Well, that depends on which edition your looking at. The one above is the regular $59.99 edition.

It’s a departure from the previous box art from the series. Here we have an older computer-generated Solid Snake. There’s a lot of detail in his face. You can see the crow’s feet around his eyes. His eye has a tired, weary look. This is a man that’s seen a lot of battles.

Appropriately, the colors are bleak: black and white. His face is enormous compared to the title but I don’t really like its placement. It covers up too much of his face. It would have been better to lower it somewhere around his neck or chin. Right now, the title looks like paint or black stickers football player’s use to reduce the glare beneath their eyes.

Other than that, I like the move. This is a game all about Snake and it’s fitting that his mug should cover 90 percent of the real estate.

Grade: B+

On the other hand, the limited edition box art is more traditional. It’s similar to what fans have been seeing since Metal Gear Solid 2 with art by Yoji Shinkawa. The box, below, shows Solid Snake and, I’m assuming, his arch nemesis Revolver Ocelot.

It’s interesting to note that in this picture, Snake’s eyepatch is on the other side. His left eye is visible. Meanwhile, Ocelet is wearing shades. His hair is long. He looks like Liquid Snake did. The placement of the logo is much better on the special edition. It’s high and to the right, out of the way of the major piece of art.

The colors are beige and black. It definitely isn’t sadder or as foreboding as the regular edition. The special edition, which includes a making-of Blu-ray disc and CD soundtrack and more art, has a old-time feel. It’s more sepia, like an old newspaper photograph. Maybe this implies that the special edition has a more historical perspective taking into account the decades long saga of Solid Snake. I like it better. If you’re a collector and want to show off your Metal Gear games, the special edition is probably your best bet. It maintains the distinctive cover style of the previous iterations.

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